SPHINX-APIDOC(1) Sphinx SPHINX-APIDOC(1)
NAME
sphinx-apidoc - Sphinx API doc generator tool
SYNOPSIS
sphinx-apidoc [OPTIONS] -o <OUTPUT_PATH> <MODULE_PATH> [EXCLUDE_PATTERN
...]
DESCRIPTION
sphinx-apidoc is a tool for automatic generation of Sphinx sources that,
using the autodoc extension, document a whole package in the style of
other automatic API documentation tools.
MODULE_PATH is the path to a Python package to document, and OUTPUT_PATH
is the directory where the generated sources are placed. Any EX-
CLUDE_PATTERNs given are ]8;;https://docs.python.org/3/library/fnmatch.html\fnmatch-style]8;;\ file and/or directory patterns
that will be excluded from generation.
WARNING:
sphinx-apidoc generates source files that use sphinx.ext.autodoc to
document all found modules. If any modules have side effects on im-
port, these will be executed by autodoc when sphinx-build is run.
If you document scripts (as opposed to library modules), make sure
their main routine is protected by a if __name__ == '__main__' condi-
tion.
OPTIONS
-o <OUTPUT_PATH>
Directory to place the output files. If it does not exist, it is
created.
-q Do not output anything on standard output, only write warnings
and errors to standard error.
-f, --force
Force overwriting of any existing generated files.
-l, --follow-links
Follow symbolic links. Defaults to False.
-n, --dry-run
Do not create or remove any files.
-s <suffix>
Suffix for the source files generated. Defaults to rst.
-d <MAXDEPTH>
Maximum depth for the generated table of contents file. Defaults
to 4.
--tocfile
Filename for a table of contents file. Defaults to modules.
-T, --no-toc
Do not create a table of contents file. Ignored when --full is
provided.
--remove-old
Remove existing files in the output directory that are not cre-
ated anymore. Not compatible with --full.
-F, --full
Generate a full Sphinx project (conf.py, Makefile etc.) using the
same mechanism as sphinx-quickstart.
-e, --separate
Put documentation for each module on its own page.
Added in version 1.2.
-E, --no-headings
Do not create headings for the modules/packages. This is useful,
for example, when docstrings already contain headings.
-P, --private
Include "_private" modules.
Added in version 1.2.
--implicit-namespaces
By default sphinx-apidoc processes sys.path searching for modules
only. Python 3.3 introduced ]8;;https://peps.python.org/pep-0420/\PEP 420]8;;\ implicit namespaces that al-
low module path structures such as foo/bar/module.py or
foo/bar/baz/__init__.py (notice that bar and foo are namespaces,
not modules).
Interpret paths recursively according to PEP-0420.
-M, --module-first
Put module documentation before submodule documentation.
These options are used when --full is specified:
-a Append module_path to sys.path.
-H <project>
Sets the project name to put in generated files (see project).
-A <author>
Sets the author name(s) to put in generated files (see
copyright).
-V <version>
Sets the project version to put in generated files (see version).
-R <release>
Sets the project release to put in generated files (see release).
Project templating
Added in version 2.2: Project templating options for sphinx-apidoc
-t, --templatedir=TEMPLATEDIR
Template directory for template files. You can modify the tem-
plates of sphinx project files generated by apidoc. Following
Jinja2 template files are allowed:
• module.rst.jinja
• package.rst.jinja
• toc.rst.jinja
• root_doc.rst.jinja
• conf.py.jinja
• Makefile.jinja
• Makefile.new.jinja
• make.bat.jinja
• make.bat.new.jinja
In detail, please refer the system template files Sphinx pro-
vides. (sphinx/templates/apidoc and sphinx/templates/quickstart)
ENVIRONMENT
SPHINX_APIDOC_OPTIONS
A comma-separated list of option to append to generated automod-
ule directives. Defaults to members,undoc-members,show-inheri-
tance.
SEE ALSO
sphinx-build(1), sphinx-autogen(1)
COPYRIGHT
2007-2025, the Sphinx developers
8.1.3 Jan 31, 2025 SPHINX-APIDOC(1)
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